The Warriors were one of the feel-good stories of last season, using an array of 3-point gunners led by the limitless range of Stephen Curry to reach the second round. Hopes are as high as they’ve been in the Bay Area for years, but they might find that moving up among the contenders is often more difficult then reaching their ranks in the first place.

Helping them make that push will be free agent small forward Andre Iduogala. While the Warriors are already deep on the perimeter with gifted young swingmen Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson, Iduogala brings an element of defense that they can sorely use.

They’ll need everything the veteran All-Star can give them to offset the losses of valuable reserves Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry. Neither are elite players, but their hard-nosed attitudes played a big role in helping the Warriors reach the NBA’s final eight for only the second time in the past two decades.

An even bigger bonus would be a healthy season from center Andrew Bogut. The 7-0 Australian has missed at least 13 games in each of the past five campaigns, including 50 last season. He’s not much of an offensive threat any more. But with so many other weapons, the Warriors just need him to anchor a defense that ranked 14th last season.

LA. CLIPPERS

2012-13: 56-26, 4th in Western Conference, lost 4-2 to Memphis in first round

With proper respect to Brooklyn, perhaps no team underwent a bigger offseason makeover than the Clippers.

By replacing Vinny Del Negro with Doc Rivers, and adding three significant newcomers in Darren Collison, Jared Dudley and J.J. Redick, L.A.’s other team is making a major push to improve on a franchise season that ended in disappointment with a first-round loss to Memphis.

It’s a player’s game, but none of their myriad personnel will bear as much scrutiny as the one on their sideline. The Clippers upgraded from one of the least-regarded coaches to one of the best, a vaunted motivator in Rivers whose championship with Boston gives the type of credibility and respect Del Negro could never approach.

Rivers isn’t known as a particularly brilliant tactician, however, so it will be interesting to see how much he can improve the discipline of a team that, despite the presence of floor general extraordinaire Chris Paul, too often seemed to be winging it. The Clippers will at least listen, which didn’t always seem to be the case with Del Negro.

Losing Eric Bledsoe hurts, but Dudley and Redick should help the Clippers improve on their middling 3-point efficiency. They’ll also be looking for improvement from dunk machine Blake Griffin, who remains an athletic phenom but has yet to polish his offensive game.

L.A. LAKERS

2012-13: 45-27, 7th in Western Conference, lost 4-0 to the Spurs in first round

For the first time in their storied history, the Lakers got to experience how the other 99 percent live when free agent center Dwight Howard, dismayed at the prospect of rebuilding alongside the aging Kobe Bryant, decided he had a better shot at winning elsewhere and left for Houston.

It’s easy to see why. While Kobe Bryant is expected to return earlier than expected from the Achilles injury that ended his 17th NBA season prematurely, his best days are well behind at 35. The same can be said for the other half of L.A.’s geriatric backcourt, 39-year-old Steve Nash. Last but not least, Spanish big man Pau Gasol is 33, and has declined significantly in each of the past two seasons.

With Bryant taking up more than half the salary cap with his $30-million salary, and their resources depleted by years of win-now deals, the Lakers had few options to restock their roster. Give yourself a pat on the back if you’ve heard of the likes of Elias Harris, Xavier Henry and Shawne Williams.

The Lakers’ season will likely be dominated by speculation about what they’ll do with Bryant when his contract expires at the end of the season . It promises to be more interesting than what they do on the court.

The bad news: The Suns were terrible last season, and they might be even worse.

The good news: If so, they’ll be in prime position to win the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes for the right to draft the NBA’s next can’t-miss superstar.

Amassing ping-pong balls is about the only thing the Suns have to look forward to after struggling through their worst finish since they broke into the NBA as an expansion franchise in 1968-69.

The Suns did make a interesting pickup in Eric Bledsoe, who will get starter’s minutes after an exciting three-year stint as an ultra-athletic sparkplug off the L.A. Clippers’ bench. They’ll also be counting on lottery pick Alex Len, the 7-1 Ukrainian who had been touted as the No. 1 prospect before the Suns nabbed him fifth.

No matter how those two do or don’t develop, the Suns are basically biding their time until the lottery.

Yes, the Kings struggled through their seventh straight losing season. And yes, the Kings are a mortal lock to make it eight. None of that matters to the fan base that has supported them so well during their largely-pitiful stint in California’s capital after an attempt to move them to Seattle was quashed.

And now the really hard work begins: Shaking off the malaise that has reinfected the franchise after its brief revival during the late 90s and early 00s.

Nothing illustrates their plight like mercurial big man DeMarcus Cousins. Unquestionably gifted, Cousins narrowly missed becoming one of just eight players to average a double-double. He’s also an immature liability who led the league in technical fouls, was ejected four times, earned a suspension for threatening Spurs color announcer Sean Elliott and pays about as much attention to defense as Nic Cage does taxes.

Unwilling to give up on such a talented player, the Kings sought a new start by instead dumping Tyreke Evans. He’ll be replaced by Kansas rookie Ben McLemore, who teams with point guard Greivis Vasquez to give the Kings a complete makeover in the backcourt. It might not make an immediate difference, but it’s a start.